Cooperative Advocacy
In Cooperative Advocacy, a coalition of civil
society groups engages decision-makers in a collaborative, outcome-oriented and
sustained process to advance a specific agenda for social change.
Cooperative Advocacy differs significantly from more common approaches to advocacy, which use confrontation to achieve advocacy goals. Traditional advocacy approaches identify other stakeholders, such as government or business interests, as adversaries and use confrontational strategies, leading to political polarization, gridlock, and inferior policy outcomes.
Through the Cooperative Advocacy process, Partners helps civil society organizations build coalitions around a common cause. Coalitions then learn to engage with policy makers, business interests and other social sectors using collaboration and dialogue to create sustainable policy solutions, mutually beneficial social change and long-term partnerships across sectors.
Partners’ global experience demonstrates that Cooperative Advocacy is an effective tool even in countries without a strong tradition of cross-sector cooperation.
- In Georgia a coalition of young scientists successfully used Cooperative Advocacy to engage citizens, NGOs, the municipal government and local agencies for the first time to address problems with their municipal water delivery system. The process improved water distribution and led to the financial recovery of the water company.
Partners’ Cooperative Advocacy approach has been used in local, regional and national settings to foster democratic practices among organized civil society groups, government and the private sector.
- In Argentina citizens of the South Castelar community engaged local police, the municipal government and the provincial legislature to improve public safety after receiving training from Partners in Cooperative Advocacy. As a result, violent crime decreased, government efficiency improved, new recreation programs were implemented and citizen-police relationships were strengthened.
Partners experience building local capacity means that the Cooperative Advocacy process can be customized to meet the needs of organizations seeking change in diverse cultural and political environments.
- In Albania a network of NGOs working on a Cooperative Advocacy campaign in a small rural community held informal meetings in villagers’ gardens rather than formal, structured roundtables to encourage maximum participation by community members.
